Process and apparatus for making calcium carbid.



J. S. SEYMOUR. PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING CALCIUM GARBID.APPLICATION FILED 0014, 1905. RENEWED we. a, 1908.

91 6 ,495. Patented Mar. 30, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SEEET 1.

syhArrok 's 2 J. S. SEYMOUR.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING CALCIUM GARBID.

APPLICATION FILED 00124, 1905. RENEWED AUG. 8, 1908.

Patented Mar. 30, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F b 9 A WITNESSES: I W- lNl EN7'0fi JOHN s. SEYMOUR, OF WHITNEYPOINTQNEW YORK.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS non MAKING oALormu omen).

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March so, 1909.

Application filed October 4', 1906, Serial No. 281,218. Renewed August8, 1908. Serial'No. 447,691.

To all whom it, may" concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN S. SEYMOUR, a

citizen'of the United States, and a resident of Whitney Point, in thecounty of Broome and State of New York, have invented'a certain new anduseful process and apparatus for making" calcium carbid and forsmeltingand other igneous operations and for the making of igneouscompounds where some of the constituents are brought to a state-offusion by intense heat, of which the following is the specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the aforesaid igneous processand in the furnace in which it may be carried out, in which the materialto be reduced, fused or combined, and the fuel are injected into thefurnace, and also a regulated quantity of air or of a supporter ofcombustion, all the solid constituents being in a finely divided andpreferably in .a pulverulent state, and in which the bottom and slopingsides of the combustion chamber are covered and protected by thematerials to be reduced, fused or combined, or of one of them, also in afinely divided or pulverulen't state; or this protective covering maybe. finely divided refractory material, which does not take part in, thechemical reaction, unless incidentally, its primary action bein "toinsulate and protect that part of the urnace and in which the heat forfusion resulting from the chemical union of the fuel with the air orother supporter of; combustion is brought to hear at shortest range onthe ul'verulent particles to be reduced or fuse and with those to beunited therewith, whi le in transit from their introduction to thecombustion chamber to the bottomof' the chamber, at or near which pointis the region of most intense heat and where theheat is greatlyincreased by blowipe' action, and from there back, so far ast eunconsumed and refractory particles are concerned, to the top of thechamber where the products of combustion pass out.

The objects of my invention are :First, to obtain perfect combustion ofthat part of the fuel intended to be burned by adjusting the relativeamounts of such fuel and of the supporter of combustion; second, toavoid loss of heat and reduction of furnace temperature by failure tobring each particle of oxygen into intimate contact with the fuel;third, to avoid losses of heat due to varying resistance from ash andclinker, and excess or deficiency in the supporter of combustion;

fourth, to avoid loss of heat by radiation and conduction; fifth, to useradiant heat at the shortest distance; sixth, to produc'e'a region ofmost intense heat and most energetic chemical action into which thearticles to be acted. on are brought a-fter pre'ie'atin-g, by Iadjustingthe dimensions of the furnace, the volume and swiftness of thesupporter of combustion and the fineness of the fuel to ninth, toeconomize the process of generat-' ing and using heat; tenth, to reducethe nitrogen vehicleto a minimum; eleventh, to provide a tap hole whichwill not clog by constructing its sides of electrodes which may'beheated by an electric current.

Other objects will appear from the hereinafterdescription, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specication.

Until my invention was perfected, calcium cat-bid and other igneouscompounds made from highlyJrefractory material were produced on'a;commercial. scale only in the electric furnace, in which the manifestadva'n-, tages are ofi'set and neutralized by inherentdefects, amongwhich are the constant loss by volatilization-of the material treated,the waste resulting from the production of a large amount of carbonmonoxid' which passes off unburned, the fact that portions of the chargefall out. of the furnace alongwith the dischar 'ed .carbid blocks, thefact that the carbid dlschar' ed from the furnace temperature to get thecarbid to run than that necessary to make the carbid. In the electricfurnace, the waste of heat resulting from usingtemperatures higher thanneces-- sary is paralleled by a waste of material,

roughly stated when it is said that only one 1 o ton of carbid isobtained from-two tons of 1 furnace and may protect the sides-as high ulime and coke, acted on by one electric horseas possible, I make thesloping sides stepped power for a year.

I will describe the mode of practicing my invention in the manufactureof calcium carbid on a commercial scale, from the description of whichit will be obvious that many other carbids and other igneous compoundshaving high fusing points may readily be made, and various ores reducedand the metal recovered, by varying the material supplied to the furnaceand making such minor adaptations as are within the range of the skillof persons working in the art to 1 which it appertains.

In my process I may employ finely divided or pulverulent fuel assoftcoal, or liquid fuel in a spray, and the material to be treated maylikewise be injected into the combustion chamber in a finely divided orpulverulent form, with the fuel, and this pulverulent fuel or spray ofliquid fuel and the material to be treated may be borne into the furnaceon, for example, a current of air 2 sufiicient in volume to efiectcomplete combustion without the formation of carbon monoxidor of smoke,and without leaving a residue of oxygen in the flue ases; or

these constituent materials, the fue and the supporter of combustion,may be injected separately and afterward commingled in the combustionchamber.

For the combustible 1 preferably employ high grade soft coal with thesmallest percentage of ash, with which the proportion of air to coal is12 to 1 by weight for complete combustion, although more air may beadmitted. The proportion of air, however,

may be determined by inspection through a peek-hole in the furnace or byanalysis of the flue gases; for perfect combustion is manifested by theabsence of smoke, and

may be determined by first admitting too little air for completecombustion, the fuel feed 4 being constant, kindling the fuel with atorch, and then gradually increasing the air until the combustion isconstant, without of calcium carbid in the proportion of pulverulentcoke 35 parts, pulverulent lime 65 parts, a slightly higher proportionof lime than theory requires, covering the bottom and sloping sides ofthe furnace to about 4 'inches in depth with this material thoroughlymixed, and that the material may not slide too freely into the bottom ofthe or roughened and relatively steep. i Vhen the combustion chamber hasbecome Hr tensely heated, I enter upon'the second stage F0 of my processand inject on the current of air bearing the pulverulent or spray fuel,pulverulent coke and lime in the above men-- tioned proportions of and65, when the combustion of the fuel, which is more read ily ignited thanpulverulent coke, fuses the intermingled pulvcrulent lime, since atthese high temperatures the lime will melt in contact with the carbonand will flow like Water,

in contact with which the pulverulent car- 8O bon at these hightemperatures, though it will neither volatilize nor fuse, will unitechemically with the lime and thereby form calcium carbid.

WVhen suflicient calcium carbid has been 85 made for a single run, Idraw off the lighter slags through a slag hole at the height of theupper surface of the carbid, toward which a small blast of air or airand pulverulent material is directed. To draw off the charge ofcarbid Iopen a tap hole in the bottom of the furnace the sides of which are madeof carbon electrodes, between which by the use of a current ofelectricity I-form an electric are which keeps the tap hole openwhenever desired, according to the well-known fact that. the temperatureneeded to get the carbid to run in a satisfactory way withoutrapidclogging of the outlet is far higher than the temperature necessary tomake .the carbid. Then I close the tap hole, cover the sloping bottomwith pulverulent material, and continue the injection of fuel, air andthe constituent materials. My process is thus a continuousone and Imayreceive the outgoing liquid carbid in a. car in which an ingotisformed, or I may receive it in a relatively deep pit into which thecarbid drops in globules, cooling suliiciently as they fall,

to prevent solidifying in one solid mass at the bottom.

The furnace in which my process may be carried out may be made upright,circular in plan, and containing four chambers one aboveanother, or theuppermost may be set off, or disposed elsewhere, as shown in theaccompanylng drawings, in which the same characters refer to the sameparts.

Figure 1 is. a vertical section of my furnace. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection of my furnace taken at right angles to that of Fig. 1 butshowing the boiler chamber set off at one side instead of as in Fig. 1,on top of the combustion chamber, and showing the chimney flue Y bentand carried dow from the top of the combustion chamber to the bottom ofthe boiler chamber and then upward into the boiler chamber. Fig. 3 isthe sleeve ona larger scale.

A is the principal or combustion chamber,

the -arched top R of which, whether in seg-- men-ts, or built up fromblocks, may be renewable, and maybe made of highly refractory materialin carefully fitted blocks, preferably, in a calcium carbid furnace of'terve'ning clear spaces through which the pulverulent material may passor be fed to cover the bottom of the furnace.

l i-g." 2 exhibits the :relation of the slaghole '0 to thesupplementarytwyers U and the pipe connections of the fan N, by which thesurfaceslags may be removed, either by a blast of sprayed oil and air,which burns before it strikes 'the surface of the liquid carbid, or'bya. blast containing also pulverulent material it comes from thepulverizer, or by a hot blast oft-he products of combustion taken fromthe chamber A; in any case, I avoid chilling the compound. This Fig. 2also shows the chamber A? set off from the perpendicular so that chamberA may-have a movable topgiving access to both chambers A and A forrepairs and renewals. A door Wcf fire-brick inside Fig. 1, gives access'to'the combustion chamber A for charging material in lumps or in bulk,in cupola work.

bottom of the furnace, and the materia thereon.

Y is the chimney flue within which at the top of the furnace is thedown-turned end of the tube T provided with the sleeve V,

through which 1s injected pulverulent mate rial from the combinedpulverizer and fan I ordinarily borne on a current of air of minimumvolume for perfect combustion which may be regulated at the air inletsthereof. Any pulverizer capable of air regulation in coiiperation with afan may be employed, but I prefer a cylindrical pulverizer with heatersand fan on the same shaft.

T is a continuation'of the tube T which may be curved so as to deliverpulverulent material tangentially for charging the second chamber A, theoutput of which is controlled by the-damper (Z.

O is a return tube leading from the top of the second chamber A back tothe pulverizer P carrying heated air to the pulverizer, which may be asupporter of coin- The-sleeve V is made of refractory matetrolling thevalves aforesaid.

bust-ion and also a vehicle for the lent material.

O is an inlet into the second chamber A for the intake ofair when T isclosed by the damper (Z. 1

Battle plates p mix thoroughly the pulverulent material which may havebecome somewhat separated .by the ='slow circular pu'lverumotion of theair in this chamber when pulverulent material is delivered the tube T. j

A is the uppermost chamber into which the chimney flue Y from thecombustion chamber opens and from which the flue Z to the outer airpasses. It is provided with a water tube boiler B or may be providedwith other economizers to utilize the heat of the flue gases. y

The sloping bottom S of the furnace is stepped or roughened in order todetain the pulverulent material from sliding down and to permit thesloping bottom to be made steep' in order to serve as the sides of thefurnace as high up-as possible and at the same time be protected bythepulverulent material from the intense heat, and these sloping sidesmay be made of highly refracto it-through 'tory material but preferablymay be made of blocks of pulverulent coke, lime and tar, like the archedtop R. A slag hole 0 located at the top of the complete run of liquidcarbid is used for drawing off the light slags. A supplementary airblast from the fan N is directed by suitable twyers U at an incline tothe surface of the liquid carbid toward the slag hole and the slag holewhen not in use is stopped by plastic refractory material as by thecommon practice of furnace men.

E is an electrode made of a block of retort carbon which has beenreduced to pow der and freed as much as possible from mineral matter orboracic-acid. A rod (2 is attached to this electrode, which must not bea conductor of electricitv or else must .be provided with an insulatingsection, by

valves of which are controlled by the hand lever L.

E is a similar carbon electrode fixed in the bottom of the furnace, andthe two electrodes when brought together stop the tap hole 0 of thecombustion chamber. and when the movable electrode E is withdrawn itforms with the other electrode E and the side walls between which itmoves the rectangular tap hole 0? which may be opened and closed by thehand lever L con- D is a dynamo which may deliver a current of 1 500amperes and 70 volts to the electrodes E E. I i

A is -the lower chamber of the furnace.

and may contain a car for receiving the liquid carbid, or this chambermay be made relatively deep so as'to permit the carbid to drop inglobules, cooling a little as they fall so as not to form a solid mass.The outer walls W of the furnace may be made of or-.

dinary brick and of suflicient thickness to admit of continuousoperation without much loss of heat.

Above the sloping bottom S and in line with its upper surface, pokeholes O at va rious intervals may be made through which the pulverulentmaterial may be manipulated by a bar, and at or near these points in theouter wall a door may beconstructed for accessto this chamber. Otherdoors may be fitted in the uppermost chamber containing the tubularboilers. may be closed by iron doors. Access to the combustion chambermay also be had from the lower chamber by removing the carbon electrodesE E and the adjacent blocks which for this purpose may be maderemovable.

Within the tube T is arranged an oil sprayM which may be used to startthe furnace, the oil being sprayed in, drawing in with, it air as asupporter of combustion through the tube T. And I may continue the useof liquid fuel throughout the process, using the pulverizer P fordelivering only the pulverulent coke and lime, the raw materials fromwhich the calcium carbid is made. Or I may spray or otherwise moistenthe pulverulent coke and lime with liquid fuel. And still otherarrangements may be made comprising one, two, or

more pulverizers, whereby the combustible material intended to liberateenegy in the form of heat may, while burning and mov ing in air, bebrought into close contact with the pulverulent material from which thecalcium carbid is made.

" The operation of my furnace has been set forth in describing thefurnace itself and' my process, but I will describe its operations moreparticularly when liquid fuel is used and calcium carbid is made. Thetap hole 0 is closed by a movement of. the hand lever L which operatesthe hydraulic piston within the cylinder C, the stem 6 of the movableelectrode, and the movable electrode itself so as to bring the twoelectrodes E and E into contact. The pulverizer P is charged with cokeparts and lime 65 parts, and the pulverizer set in operation with thedamper in the tube T open and the damper in the flue Y closed.Pulverulent material in proper proportion for forming calcium carbid isthus charged into the chamber A, and is mixed on the baflle plates 3)down which it slides on to the inclined bottom S,

The lower chamberwhich it covers with a quantity of pulveruity asneeded, aided if necessary by a bar' material to be treated is injectedinto the furnace on the current of air and fuel, en- .tering, preferablyfrom the top and impinging upon this bed of pulverulent material.

" Treating as I do, the bulk of the material treated in a pulverulentform, in suspension, instead of 1n aggregation it 1s obvlous that whenthis body .of material is of anature to be fused under the hightemperature obtained, it should be made up of the constituents of thematerial introduced with the blast, or some of them, or of one of them,but on the other hand, where this body of material is such as will notfuse and will not burn, it may be formed of such material as does notenter into the chemical reaction.

Concurrently with charging the chamber A and covering the sloping bottomS of the combustion chamber A with combustible "material, or followingthis charging process,

I spray in through M liquid fuel or other liquid combustible borne on orotherwise commingled with a current of air, or other supporter ofcombustion, in proportion for perfect combustion, and continue thisuntil the combustion chamber is brought to a very high temperature;whereupon I close the damper-d in the tube T, open the damper in thefiue Y- and keep the pulverizer P going, furnishing to the combustionchamher a continuous charge of pulverulent coke and lime, borne on thesame current of air, or oxygen, or supporterof combustion, or otherwisecommingled with it, in the same volume, as when the fuel oil alone wasborne, and thus bring each molecule of oxygen into contact with the fueland the pulverulent constituents of calcium carbid into intimate contactparticle by particle with theburning fuel oil, thus using radiant heatat shortest range. Ignition of the fuel oil takes place immediately uponentering the combustion chamber at the top, and passing downward thecommingled flame and constituent materials reach the point of mostenergetic combustion and of fiercest heat just below the widest part ofthe furnace and where the sloping bottom is protected, at which pointthe most refractory fire brick would be easily fused, and at which thepulvcrulent lime preheated on the way down is ready to fuse! A littlelower down, this current of commingled flame and pulverulent materialimpinges with blowpipe effect and greater heat on the body ofpulverulent lime and coke in the bottom of the furnace and fuses thepulverulent lime therein, and in the blast,

' rent of hot gases now doubles back' and passesupward with sufficientheat to melt all the pulverulent lime that is fine enough to be upborne,unitingtherewithin mid air all the finer pulverulentcoke commingledtherewith that is fine enough to be upborne, the fused particlesagglomerating into larger masses and falling, while this upward currentof hot gases also reinforces the heat of the incoming fuel oil,preheating the incoming commingled coke and lime,

the outgoing hot gases enveloping the incoming materials.

Instead of the restricted region Within a' few inches of the electricarc in which only, in the electric furnace, calcium carbid is formed, Iprovide anunclogged and much larger theater of action for the play ofthese chemical "forces, consuming all the liquid fuel, or softfiioal, asthe case may be, in perfect combustion, with minimum nitrogen,

using the heat at shortest range, fusing all the pulverulent lime anduniting therewith all the pulverulent coke commingled therewith, withoutobstruction by ash. I thus avoid all wasteof heat by useless radiationor conduction and all waste of material from floating dust borne awayfrom the combustion chamber except the ash, which does not chemicallyunite-with the fused lime, and ought to be borne away. When, now, a bodyof fused lime is forming, a temperature sufficiently high is reached forthe formation of galcium carbid throughout the bath, as well as, for thefinest material, throughout the combustion chamber; for in this as inother chemical compounds, but one of the constituents need be fused,while the other, raised to the same temperature, may remain in the solidstate until the chemical union takeslplace, the carbon then dis lacingthe oxygen of the lime, though at ower temperatures the strongestaflinity of carbon is for-oxygen.

The well-known reaction is z- For lime, carbonate of lime may besubstituted according to 'the following formula: 1

The small quantity 'ofcarbon monoxid formed when lime is used, thelarger quantity when carbonate of lime is used, also containingv likethe principal blast a comthe proportion for complete combustion, witherwithout the'constituents of calcium carbid borne therein, or the hotproducts of combustion or any other hot blast may be directed obliquelyon the surface of the cal-bid toward the slag hole, which on beingopened enables me to clear oif the surface the lighter slags. This done,the tap hole in the bottom of the furnace,-the two op 0- '65 bustibleand a supporter of combustion in site sides of which areformed of the eectrodes E and E is opened by moving back T0116, of the electrodes, andthe run is discharged into a pit or into acar therein. Aftercth is' isallowed to cool,-it maybe removed, without loss of the larger part ofthe heat therein contained. When the tap hole begins to-clo or when thecarbidfails' to run suflicient l', the current from the dynamo D may beturned on to clear the tap hole. As soon as the run is discharged, Iclose the tap-hole, cover the sloping bottom with pulverulent material,and continue the injectionof fuel, air aid the constitu-f ent materials.

It is thus seen that there'is little loss of the materials byvolatilization, and that there is no waste from the production of carbonmonoxid, that the charge at the edges of the mass of liquid calclumcarbid is partially consolidated and does not run out, and

asthe carbid is not removed in the block it does not require to bechipped oflf, nor does any of the carbid become partially burned, forthere is no heat employed in the formation of the carbid higher thanthat necessary for the chemical reaction, and there is no clo ging ofthe outlet.

Neitherin my process norin my apparatus doI confine myself to thedetails or to the uses herein particularly set forth, but both admit ofvariations of considerable ex tent without departing from the spirit ofmy invention. For example, I need not mix the constituent materials ofthe carbid but may introduce pulverulent lime with the air and thecombustible employed for generating heat, and introduce the finelydivided or pulverulent coke, or in place thereof coal or its equivalent,in bulk from the second chamber IA, allowing it to slide down theinclined sides of the combustion chamber, absorb heat, and encounter thelime fused in the bottom of the combustion chamber, in which the carbonthus submerged and raised to the same high temperature as the lime, ischemically united with the lime.- Or I may reverse this and introducethe pulverulent coke, or in place thereof coal, or other form of carbon,with the air and'combustible through the tube T and introduce thepulverulent or finely divided'lime in bulk from the second chamber A,allowing it to slide down the inclined sides of=the combustion chamberA, absorb heat, be fused, then chemically unite with the highly heatedcoke. Or I may inject the material upward from the bottomof the furnace.Or I may construct a furnace with the combustion chamber upside down,in-

jecting the finely divided or pulverulentconstituents commingled orseparate as last above recited, from the bottom, upwardly, making the,combustion chamber of suflicient height to provide a region of mostintense combustion before the material strikes the top of the furnace.Or I may make the furnace of less height and construct the top thereofof block's, of one or of all the con-- stituent materials of calciumc'arbid, allowing the blast to impinge upon these. blocks andwear themaway, converting their sub making the run carbid produced in my fur- Inace, but that larger sizes are admissible, and alladnnssible sizes maybe comimngled,

making the furnace higher, the coarser the material. Furthermore, I donot adhere closely to the proportions of coke and lime inmakingcarbidjand sometimes employ a slight excess of lime to act as a flux,causing fusion at a slightly lower temperature, or I may inject anexcess of coke in order to proyide for the combustion of some portionthereof forming CO'and then CO leaving a scant proportion of coke forthe making of the carbid, except for this original excess of coke, or Imay use coal in place of coke, as well as for combustion-burning aconibiningthe remainder with the lime.

I may-increase the proportion of oxygen in the air or employ pureoxygen, or any mixture thereof as a supporter of combustio 'or any othersupporter of combustion appropriate to the material treated;

Referring now to the broad features of my invention, my improved processand furnace may be employed also in the reduction of ores and therecovery of the metal therein; and in the preliminary treatment of ores;and my furnace has a wide range of uses, outside of those enumerated,fulfilling the uses, with some modifications, of the hearth, the forgeand the furnace in the widest acceptation of the term, including shaftfurnaces, closed vessel furnaces, electric furnaces and all thoseinwhich the charge and the fuel I are in intimate contact; and bymaintaining art and reverberatory furnaces,

a supply of pulverulent material on the sloping sides of the combustionchamber or otherwise closing the openings from chamber A into thecombustion chamber A, and

"introducing the' material to be treated ters Patent is 1 The igneousprocess which consists in injecting into the combustion chamber materialto be treated in pulverulent form commingled with combustible material,and with a supporter of combustion, in a blast impinging upon materialto be treated, sub-' stantially as described.

2. The igneous process of treating ma-.

t'erials which consists in, subjecting them to the blow-pipe action of ablast, which blast,

is made up of a supporter of combustion; fuel and material treated,against another body of material treated, substantially as described.

3. The igneous process of treating materials by injecting them into acombustion chambely and injecting combustible material and alsoasupporter of combustion in due proportion'for the perfect combustion ofthe material to be burned, in blasts or a blast impinging upon materialof low thermal conductivity, substantially as described.

4. The igneous process of treating finely divided material by bringingthe finely dividedfuel into intimate contact with sufficient oxygen forthe combustion of a portion of said fuel and for heating the unburnedportion to the temperature of chemical reaction, and bringing each fineparticle of the material acted on into intimate contact with the burningelements, in the region of most intense heat, and using radiantheatatthe shortest range, then causing the material in. suspension,still in the region of most intenseheat to impinge With'bloW-pipe actionupon a bed of finely divided material, substantially as described.

5. The igneous" process of treating material in a combustion'chamberwhich consists in upholding the fuel in the supporter of combustion, inbringing the material treated into intimate contact with the burningelements in the region of most intense heat, in usingradiant heat at theshortest range, in thermally insulating the material acted on bymaterial to be acted on, in preheating the incoming material with theoutgoing hot gases and burning material, in keeping the region ofchemical action clear from excess of material, in employing blowpipeaction, in reducing the nitrogen vehicle to a minimum, substantially asdescribed.

6. The igneous process which consists in upholding the fuel in thesupporter of combustion, thereby avoiding the internal resistance fromash and clinker in the fire, in thermally insulating the materialtreated by material to be acted on, in avoiding loss of heat byradiation or conduction, in reducing the nitrogen vehicle to the minimumand in employing blow-pipe action, substantially, as described.

7. The process of treating materials which consists in injecting theminto a combustion chamber in pulverulent or finely divided formcommingled with combustible material and a supporter of combustion in aflame acting with blow-pipe efiect, thereby causing fusion,substantially as described.

8. The igneous process of treating materials which consists in providinga body of material in pulverulent or less finely divided form on thebottom of the furnace and directing thereon a current of air bearing thecombustible material and material to be treated in pulverulent or finelydivided form, substantially as described.

9. The igneous process of treating material in a combustion chamberwhich consists in bringing the material acted on into intimate contactwith the burning element in the region of most intense heat, thenemploying blow-pipe action, preheating the incoming material with theoutgoing hot gases and burning material, substantially as described.

10. The igneousprocess of treating materials in which a blast of fuel ina supporter of combustion, preheated by the outgoing products ofcombustion, is directed on the material to be treated by blow-pipeaction, at the region of most energetic combustion, substantially asdescribed.

11. The igneous process of treating materials which consists ininjecting them into a combustion chamber in pulverulent or finelydivided form, commingled with combustible material and a supporter ofcom-.- bustion in a flame actin with blow-pipe effect, thereby causingusion, withdrawing the fused material through the tap hole the sides ofwhich comprise electrodes and keeping the tap hole clear by springing anelec- Y trio arc from side to side thereof, substantially as described.

12. In a furnace for the igneous treatment of materials, a combustionchamber, means for vertically injecting therein a blast of fuel and asupporter of combustion commingled with the material treated inpulverulent or finely divided form, and means for causing the said blastto impinge upon a bed of material.

13. In a furnace for the igneous treatment of material, means by whichthe material to be treated is injected into the combustion chamber in apulverulent or finely divided form, commingled with fuel and a supporterof combustion, means by which a region of most energetic combustion isestablished at or near the opposite end of the furnace, and means forcausing the flame to impinge thereon with blow-pipe effect.

14. A furnace for the igneous treatment of materials having the slopingsides thereof thermally insulated by a lining composed of a loose bodyof one or more refractory materials. 1

15 A furnace for the igneous treatment of material by fusion, having atap hole, the sides of which comprise electrodes carrying an electriccurrent adapted to clear the tap hole.

16. In a furnace for the igneous treat ment of material, the combinationof a pulverizer, and a combustion chamber, and a delivery tubeconnecting the two, an adjustable sleeve at the delivery end of thetube, and means for adjusting and moving the sleeve, so as to getblow-pipe action against various parts of the opposite end of thefurnace.

17 In a furnace, a combustionchai'nber, means for injecting a blast offuel and a supporter of combustion therein vertically downward, andmeans for projecting the blast upon a bed of materials.

I11 witness whereof, I have hereunto set my'hand at the city,county andState of New York, this 3rd day of October, 1905.

JOHN s. SEYMOUR.

In presence of- ISABEL RICHARDS, .H. J. LILLIE.

